Usually, to climb the normal route of Aiguille Dibona you walk for 1h around the west face, to end up climbing a 50m ridge on the north side.
However there is a good alternative to that walk, by climbing on the east side along la Voie du Nain, then end up on the last 50m of the normal route.

I highly recommend this path as it gives more climb and less annoying hike.

Getting There

Right after St Christophe-En-Oisans, you can park in Les Etages (1597m).
From there you have to hike up to Soreiller Hut (2719m). Easy track to follow, beautiful landscape on a sunny day. It takes 2h roughly.

At the Soreiller hut, you are right at the bottom of the South face of Aiguille Dibona. You just have to walk for about 20-30 minutes along the east face.
Right after the Clochetons de Gunneng, you will find the start of the route is marked with spits.

Ask your way at the Soreiller hut, they give you acurate details on approach.

Route Description

Climbing there is quite obvious as there are sealed rings along the route. There are 6 pitches on this part : 2 > 4a > 4a > 3c > 3c > 3c.

Once you're done with this portion, you will be close to the Clochetons de Gunneng and will be able to see the north ridge of Aiguille Dibona (normal route).
You just have to walk for about 100m to reach the ridge.

From there you have to climb 2 short pitches (level III) to reach the summit.

Descent

From the summit, you will abseil easily along the north ridge. It can be crowded on a bright day.
Then you just have to walk down along the west face in scree to get back to the Soreiller hut (30-45 min).

Essential Gear

Usual moutain equipment :

- Two 50m ropes
- Quickdraws and slings
- Harness and helmet
- Abseiling equipment

No friends needed though.

Hanging around...

Around Aiguille Dibona, you can climb on Soreiller Occidental and Oriental, on Tête du Rouget etc... you could easily spend a week there.
You can either stay at the hut or camp. Good camping places about 200m east of the Hut. Nice and quiet, away from the crowd.

Climbing handbook

Two great books that cover climbing in that area :

1. "Oisans Nouveau Oisans Sauvage" by Jean-Michel Cambon
(in which you will find the Voie du Nain described here)

2. "Le Massif des Ecrins - les 100 plus belles" by Gaston Rebuffat
(THE classic handbook)